


Lightspeed

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 22:33:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7659427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If you asked his stepsister Abby, you’d hear that Will Solace has always been kind of obsessed with Nico di Angelo.</p>
<p>If you asked Will Solace, that was “absolute nonsense, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”</p>
<p>But then Abby would start telling you stories, dating all the way back to the very first time that Will met Nico.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lightspeed

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rework of a story that I did two years ago (299,792,458 m/s, the beginning of the Speed of Light/Speed of Sound series), which I did both because I felt like updating the story to match up a little better with ToA and just as an exercise as a writer.  
> It's in the same continuity as Supersonic (which itself is a rework of a concept from the same series), but one can easily be read without the other.

If you asked his stepsister Abby, you’d hear that Will Solace has always been kind of obsessed with Nico di Angelo.

If you asked Will Solace, that was “absolute nonsense, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

But then Abby would start telling you stories, dating all the way back to the very first time that Will met Nico.

\--

He was about twelve at the time, and Nico came to camp in a whirlwind of Hunters and mythomagic cards. At first, Will hardly cared about the energetic kid with the card game or even the swarm of new and interesting girls who’d just arrived so much as _how_ they’d arrived.

He, like everyone else, had seen the sun chariot crash land in the lake, and he’d been bubbling over with poorly contained excitement at dad-proximity ever since. That was what prompted his first interaction with Nico – sheer, uncontainable curiosity.

“You came in with the Hunters, right?” he asked brightly. “You met Apollo?”

Nico, who’d been a bit down since the quest for Artemis left, just shrugged. “Yeah.”

“What was he like? Was he cool? Did he ask about me? Or my siblings?”

Nico shrugged again.

“Are you okay?” Will asked, circling the smaller boy. “You seem upset.”

“My sister’s one of _them_ now,” Nico said bitterly, nodding toward the cluster of Hunters standing outside of cabin 8.

“Oh,” replied Will. He glanced at cabin 6 without even thinking, wondering what he’d do if _his_ sister up and ran away with the no boys brigade. “I’m sorry.”

And then Lee called Will back to the group to head to arts and crafts. He bid Nico goodbye with a wave over his shoulder and that was that.

A few days later, after Nico had disappeared, Will sat with Abby on the steps of her cabin.

“Did you meet that di Angelo kid?” he asked.

Abby shrugged. “Nah. Heard he did what happened to the mess, though.”

“You think?” Will replied sceptically. “Y’know he – uh, his sister –“

“I heard,” Abby interrupted. She threw an arm around his shoulder. “Chill, Billy. Don’t worry about other people’s lives. They’re not us. Plus, di Angelo’s gone. We’ll probably never see him again.”

\--

They saw him again.

And in between almost getting stabbed and keeping Abby from being impaled, Will had time to be very, very impressed with Nico’s abilities and control.

And then very, very worried.

“Di Angelo needs help,” he kept insisting. “Where did he go?”

He kept trying to get up while Melody was healing him, to the point where Abby was sitting on him to keep him from escaping.

“Nope,” Melody said. “No healing till you’re healed.”

“He looked like he was going to _die_ ,” Will said.

“He’ll be fine,” said Abby.

“At least get Eloise to heal him!”

Abby and Melody looked at each other, with a very _you tell him_ look.

“Will,” Abby said gently, leaning back to relieve some pressure on his chest, “Eloise is dead.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” Abby said, “I’m so sorry. I know you were close.”

Will’s mind was racing, from _she trained me_ to _Nico’s probably run himself into the ground by now_ to – “Then that makes me head medic.”

He started to push up off of the – the ground? Were they still in the forest? No way they were still in the forest. But they were, they were still practically on the battlefield, how much time had even passed?

“Oh no you don’t!” snapped Abby, pushing him back down.

“Fine,” said Will, “fine. Mel. Go check on everyone else.”

“Will, I’m not done with –“

“Go.”

“Fine,” Melody said flatly. She pushed up off of the ground and walked away.

“Will, I know you’re –“ Abby started.

“Is Nico still down?” Will interrupted.

“I – no,” replied Abby. “Percy got him some ambrosia or something and now they’re both gone.”

“He should be resting.”

“You should be resting.”

“I need to –“

“Will.”

He met Abby’s eyes, feeling more than a little frantic. She put her hand on his shoulder.

“I’m going to get off of you, and then I’m going to pick you up and carry you to the infirmary,” she said slowly. “Is that alright?”

“I’m head medic now,” Will repeated.

“Yeah,” Abby agreed calmly, rolling off him and turning to scoop him up. “You think you can handle that, Solace?”

“I,” Will started, “I’ll try.”

\--

“So he’s just _gone_?”

“Yes.”

“Did he disintegrate?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then where did he go?”

“Will. Don’t you think it’s possible he just doesn’t like it here? With the exception of certain Ares kids, nobody’s exactly rolled out the welcome mat for him. And mind, if the Ares kids were the only ones who wanted me around, I’d probably put hard thought into leaving, too.”

“I’m –“

“Why is this so important to you?”

“He needs –“

“Like, I honestly can’t tell if you’re using this as a coping mechanism or if you’ve got a thing for him.”

“Abby!”

“Maybe both.”

\--

Will wasn’t a hundred percent sure what was going on. Everything seemed a little fuzzy, a little echoey. Like he was watching everything around him from very far away.

“ _–ou okay?”_

He blinked a few times.

“ _Will? Will!”_

Someone was waving in front of his face. He blinked hard, and Abby came into focus in front of him.

“Will!” she repeated, looking frantic.

“What?” he replied groggily.

“Oh thank the gods,” Abby breathed. She whipped around, pushing onto her feet. “Medic! I need a medic!”

Will reached out and grabbed her hand. “No.”

“Will, don’t do this to me now,” Abby replied dropping to her knees next to him again. “You can’t see yourself but you’re white as a sheet and you haven’t been responding. Was Annie really that bad?”

Will took a deep, slow breath, nodding. “Poison.”

Abby squeezed his hand. “I know you’re going to want to keep going, but just. Just give me two minutes to make sure you’re alright. You damn near scared the pants off me.”

True to her word, after a few minutes of fussing, she let Will up to keep patching people up. It didn’t feel like nearly enough, but he did what he could.

And when it was all over, the ones who were still standing weren’t quite whole – well, there was always Percy Jackson, but given everything that kid had had to deal with, Will could hardly begrudge the kid his lack of injuries.

After everything, Nico stayed. Will couldn’t help but notice.

(And his sister couldn’t help but notice him noticing.)

“I think I want to invite Nico to do his camp activities with the Apollo cabin,” Will mused over snack.

“You might have to fight Ares for it,” replied Abby. “They’re all half in love with him after that stunt he pulled. Of course, so are you –“

“Aw, Abs, shut up.”

“Never. Look, there he comes now!”

Will’s head whipped around to look where she was pointing, leaving his sister in a fit of giggles when he realised she’d been lying. “Abigail.”

“We can go find him later,” Abby said, still giggling. “But you did just rather prove my point.”

“Shut up.”

But the longer Nico was around camp – no matter how much Will pushed to befriend him – the more he seemed to want to leave. And sure enough, before summer’s end, he was gone.

\--

“I swear to Mom, if Jackson doesn’t show up soon –“

“What?”

“He’s still missing.”

“That’s weird.”

“Annabeth’s freaked.”

“Well I’ll keep an eye out.”

“Please.”

\--

“Oh hey, it’s my replacement!” Abby said.

“Huh?”

Abby nodded over to Nico, who was stomping away from Annabeth. “He doesn’t look happy. Not that he ever does.”

“Well he’s just been talking to Annabeth,” Will observed. “And probably about Percy. No wonder he’s not happy.”

“I’ve always wondered why they don’t get on,” said Abby. “They’d be devastating as allies.”

“Don’t get on?” Will repeated. “I thought half the camp was convinced he had a thing for her?”

“You _would_ believe that,” said Abby. She gestured to Nico, with his tense posture and furious expression. “She doesn’t really seem like his _type_. And anyway, does that look like someone with a crush to you?”

“I – no.”

“Exactly. He resents her,” Abby continued. “It’s a shame, though. With Nico and Annabeth heading the charge, Athena cabin would be unstoppable at cabin games.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Leave it to an Athena girl to look at interpersonal struggles and wonder how they could benefit her _camp game_ strategy.”

“Oh, I don’t wonder,” said Abby. “And anyway, it’s not like we’re at war anymore. Percy’ll turn up in no time and everything’ll be hunky-dory.”

\--

Everything was not hunky-dory. Instead of Percy, they got Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, and a new great prophecy. On the upside, there was no years-long, tragic build-up this time.

They went from prophecy to final battle in something like eight months, and then it was all over.

And Will finally felt like he’d _connected_ with Nico di Angelo. At least, during the battle he had. Afterward it was like it had never happened.

Until _finally_ , by utter chance, he found Nico and convinced him to spend a few days in the infirmary.

“Oh thank the gods,” Abby said as Will got Nico settled on the cot next to hers. “He found you.”

“What?” replied Nico.

“Will’s not shut up about you for the last few ye- days. I was about ready to hunt you down myself just to make him be quiet,” Abby told him, a slightly wicked grin on her face. “See, _I_ , unlike you, actually reported to the infirmary as instructed, and _I_ , unlike you, have as such been trapped here with Will. You’re my saviour, Nico di Angelo.”

Nico spluttered. “What?”

“What she means to say is that I’ve been worried about you,” Will said. “You practically disintegrated yourself.”

He may or may not have nudged Abby’s shoulder, who may or may not have yelped in pain because of an arrow wound. “That wasn’t nice, Billy.”

“Really?” said Nico.

Abby’s teasing smile softened. “Yeah, really.”

Nico gave Will a teeny little disbelieving smile.

“Abs, I’ve got to check your bandage,” Will said, trying to regain some semblance of professionalism rather than linger over the warm feeling that little almost smile gave him. Abby groaned loudly. “Well next time don’t get yourself shot!”

Reluctantly, Abby adjusted her position to allow him access to her injury. To Nico, she said, “I’m Abby, by the way. Abby Hill, daughter of Athena. I know who you are, obviously. But who doesn’t, right?”

“Nice to meet you,” Nico said, although he didn’t seem quite certain what to make of her.

“You gonna stick around camp for a while?” she asked.

Nico shrugged. “I was thinking about it.”

“That would be nice,” Will said before he could stop himself. Nico did that teeny little smile again, and this time Will couldn’t help grinning back.

A few days later, once Nico had been officially released from the infirmary, he and Will met up to have a picnic in the strawberry fields. They were definitely friends now, with a little undertone of _soon_ , _almost, maybe_.

Of course, they could hardly have a nice afternoon together without _something_ breaking it up – in this case, Will’s yearly trip home to visit his family starting a little earlier than expected.

“I thought you were a year-round camper,” Nico said, nibbling on a peanut butter sandwich.

“I am,” answered Will, shrugging. “I’ll be back in two weeks, I just –“

“Will!” Abby’s voice called from over the hill. “Mom’s here!”

“She doesn’t mean –“

“No, no,” Will interrupted, grining. “ _My_ mom. Our mortal parents are married. Although you’ve just gifted me the fantastic mental picture of Athena coming to pick us up from camp.”

Nico laughed. “Well I aim to please.” He shook his hair out of his eyes. “I admit, I’m a little relieved she’s your sister. I’d been a little worried you two might be –“

“Oh, gods no,” said Will. “No, no, no. I’m, like, way too gay for that, even if we weren’t siblings.”

Nico opened his mouth to reply to that, but before he could, Abby appeared out of nowhere behind them.

“Honestly, Billy, you’re gonna see him in two weeks,” she said. “Just kiss ‘im goodbye and let’s get going.”

She turned on her heel and started back over the hill, clearly expecting Will to follow. Nico stood up, pulling Will to his feet after him.

Will was about to stumble awkwardly through a good-bye, when Nico leaned a little closer, quietly saying, “Have a good vacation,” before giving him the world’s briefest almost-kiss on the cheek.

“Will!” Abby called again.

“I, uh,” Will said, “bye.”

And then, with a ridiculous, goofy grin on his face, he ran up the hill after his sister.


End file.
